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I live in Auckland and want to fly return to London. The flights from Auckland to London return are about 1300 UKP but if I book a flight from London to Auckland return it's from 500 upwards.
Now, I'm pretty sure that I'll be covering the same miles, eating the same food and taking the same amount of luggage if i do the trip from either start point. I can even use the same airline and have the same crew, but if the departure is Auckland you pay twice as much.
Anyone know why this might be? and if there is a way around it?
because they can!!
and you can sail !
No I can't! I do have a kayak thou.
I have the same issue. £550 return to fly London to Singapore. £1200 return to fly Singapore to London.
Wish I'd booked an open return out here in the 1st place so could keep booking flights from UK. Bu**er.
alex: Try royal brunei if you haven't already. They were a load cheaper than flight centre when I was looking at flights from london back to auckland last week (I already have the return leg, just visiting the uk for a few weeks and was in the same boat)
How absurd. If you buy 2 London to Auckland returns, and just use one ticket from each, you still save £300 ish.
You can't do that though - you have to use the outbound part of the ticket before you use the return.
Oh I see. Is that simply to stop you doing what I said?
thegreatape - MemberHow absurd. If you buy 2 London to Auckland returns, and just use one ticket from each, you still save £300 ish.
Indeed, absurd!
Raindog - MemberYou can't do that though - you have to use the outbound part of the ticket before you use the return.
Indeed, shafted!
you would of thought with flights that you would have the basis of truly international price structure (give or take) as you don't get charged VAT on jet fuel etc, most tickets are booked on line and the services are exactly the same, from internationally operated companies. Yet, you are shafted 6 ways from Tuesday, if you live in NZ,Australia, Singapore, and many other places. The economies of scale argument is shot full of holes too.
How much for a round the world ticket? That has worked out much cheaper for a cousin of mine.
Alex: don't know whether it's the same on the other side of the Tasman, but booking from Oz to Europe on Chinese/Korean/Japanese airlines seems to avoid some of the rorts.
Simple competition and 'market forces' at work I'd guess?
£500? You're doing well if you can get a London-Auckland return for much under a grand these days it seems.
psychle - Member
Simple competition and 'market forces' at work I'd guess?
Nah. I asked the same question a few years ago and after all the bullshit about exchange rates, fuel costs etc, my MP got them to admit they can charge what they want and are legally allowed to price fix to a certain extent.
[i]atlaz - Member
psychle - Member
Simple competition and 'market forces' at work I'd guess?
Nah. I asked the same question a few years ago and after all the bullshit about exchange rates, fuel costs etc, my MP got them to admit they can charge what they want and are legally allowed to price fix to a certain extent.[/i]
Explain price fixing. Airlines are not allowed to price fix as this would be anti-competitive and would result in £300m plus fines (as BA were fined a few years ago). As Psychie says it boils down to pricing economics and competition.
competition in that there is none so they can charge what they like
just because you have competitors doesn't mean that you have to charge competitive prices...
surprised by flights from London to Auckland being anywhere near £500, i have a wedding to goto next february and looking at £1200ish. Admittedly the headline price is about £600, the rest is taxes and fuel surcharge.
whats dates?? are you flexible??
About the 15th of April for 10 days or so, quite flexible, but starting new job on the 2nd of May, so must be back for then!
It's very complicated, but it's supply and demand.
The whole plane needs to make X amount of money, but Y seats do not need to make X/Y profit each. And lots of the seats will be differently priced.
On any plane there are people whose company have paid so don't care about the cost and people who have searched the cheapest flight; there are people who need to be there on an exact date and those who don't; there are those who need to be in Aukland and those who just want to be in NZ or somewhere cool; and finally there are those who are not even going to Aukland but somewhere else and are just changing.
There are hundreds of variables affecting the price of a seat. Seats on a plane or a route are a finite commodity, not something with a fixed cost.
on the 17-4-2011 and back 26-4-2011 you can fly with singapore air for 1050 gbp. not found anything cheaper.
Explain price fixing. Airlines are not allowed to price fix as this would be anti-competitive and would result in £300m plus fines (as BA were fined a few years ago). As Psychie says it boils down to pricing economics and competition.
I've binned the letter from my MP but essentially, providing there is no specific collusion on prices, it doesn't matter that they all charge roughly the same for a given route and that starting at one end is half the price of starting at the other end. Apparently it's considered more or less a given that the airlines have an unofficial pricing agreement to prevent any price wars that further damage the industry.
The big thing is, there's no reason at all why it should be twice as much for me to fly return to the states to see the inlaws than it is for them to come to see us. The airlines talk about fx rates, fuel costs, but given they will be in both countries, it's rubbish. It's what they CAN charge so they do, and each one of them roughly follows the same approach to avoid a race to the bottom in pricing.
I doubt you'd get a UK-Akl flight for 500 quid, i've just booked a couple of UK/NZ rtns for someone and they were 1400quid for around that timeframe.
I've flown Emirates a couple of times from NZ->UK for 2100NZ which is about he cheapest vs most direct flight. AirNZ is more expensive but fastest and best service in my experience.
it doesn't matter that they all charge roughly the same for a given route
In a competitive market, you'd expect all the prices to be roughly the same.
Col, check this site: http://www.cheapflightstoauckland.co.uk 449GBP is the cheapest i've found on it, I admit that i have no idea of how much the additional taxes would effect this price. Maybe worth a look for you thou.
Tax on most of those flights will add at least 250quid, at least. And i will put money that all those cheap flights have long breaks and/or multiple stops. Personally when i'm going backwards and forwards I'm not keen to stop 8 times and take 42 hours 🙄 All the prices i quoted above are inc of Tax. Generally you'll find nz-uk is min 2300 and other way is min 800quid. I fly back 4-8 times a year !
The big thing is, there's no reason at all why it should be twice as much for me to fly return to the states to see the inlaws than it is for them to come to see us. The airlines talk about fx rates, fuel costs, but given they will be in both countries, it's rubbish. It's what they CAN charge so they do
Did you read my post? Flights are NOT in any way priced on a cost-plus basis. They charge what they can get away with charging and still fill planes - obviously, and you can't blame them for it really. If you want something lots of other people want, expect the price to go up. It happens the world over.
Rather than complaining that it's twice the price one way, look at as being half the price the other way. If it were priced on a cost plus basis then you'd be paying somewhere in the middle probably.
Buying tickets in the States say might be cheaper because fewer people from the states might want to fly to London, compared with people from London wanting to fly to the US.
my price of 1100 was inc tax too and 1 stop in kuala lumpur